Putin takes tough stance on Iraq

Russian President Vladimir Putin took a tough stance on post-war Iraq in talks with Tony Blair today.

He said UN sanctions should not be lifted until it is clear that the threat of weapons of mass destruction has been eliminated.

He also insisted on a central role for the United Nations.

After about two hours of talks with the prime minister at his country residence outside Moscow, Putin emphasised that the US led coalition had based its war in Iraq on the belief that Baghdad had such weapons and said this issue must be clarified before sanctions can be removed.

That position has put Russia on a collision course with the United States, which is planning a UN resolution to end sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait and to authorise phasing out the UN oil-for-food humanitarian programme, according to Security Council diplomats.

That would end UN control over Iraq's oil income.

Putin pointed out that it wasn't even known whether Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was alive. Neither inspectors nor coalition troops have found banned weapons, but that does not mean the threat has been eliminated, he said.

"Where is Saddam? Where are these arsenals -- if they were really there?," Putin said. "Maybe he is sitting somewhere in a secret bunker with plans to blow all this stuff up at the last minute, threatening hundreds of human lives."